The purpose of this conference proposal is related to all four of the AHRQ's core research activities: developing health services research (HSR) agendas, discussing and developing consensus around HSR methodological and technical issues, disseminating HSR information, and developing partnerships with stakeholder organizations. The focus on measuring and improving health care quality is directly linked to AHRQ's mission to enhance the quality, appropriateness, and effectiveness of health services and complements its goal, and the goal of Healthy People 2010, of developing and translating research to improve people's health care and the nation's delivery systems. The specific aims of this conference are: 1) conduct a state-of-the-science research "working" quality conference in Spring 2002 (proposed dates April 18, 19, 20, 2002); 2) identify methodological and technical issues surrounding the definition and measurement of nursing care quality in order to strengthen quality measurement and improvement; 3) identify resources available such as secondary data sources for research and benchmarking; 4) develop recommendations for research and health policy; and 5) disseminate conference findings to organizations and individuals that have the capability to use the information to improve the quality of health care services by publishing papers developed via conference workshops, in the professional and lay press. The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, along with its partners the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) and the Annenberg Public Policy Center, propose a state-of-the-science invitational conference with approximately 50 participants from nursing, health services research, policy, and communications. Nurse investigators and experts in policy, communications, and health services research will develop summaries of working papers. The conference will be devoted to the presentation of working papers and discussion among all expert interdisciplinary participants of strategies for measurement, available datasets, and strengths and weaknesses of different methodologies and technologies, and recommendations for further development and action. Participants will be expected to submit drafts of working papers 12 weeks prior to the conference so that all participants will have the opportunity to read and critique their work. Select participants will have the opportunity to present agreement and/or rebuttal of conference papers. The papers and an annotated bibliography of the conference will be published. Executive summaries will be given to a variety of planners, providers, and users of health care services; where applicable policy recommendations will be made to appropriate agencies and groups. Media coverage is expected.